Vanshika Unveiled

 2025: The Better Friend by Grace Valentine This book is perfect as I grow into my own shoes and come to college. There are probably gonna be many times I feel alone, or am handling friend breakups, and it is just something I need to learn to navigate.  2026: Pride and Prejudice By Jane Austen Honestly, this book is such a classic, but I have actually never even touched it. I would definitely be interested in watching the movie as well. At this point of my life, I'd be reaching my twenties, so it would be a great start to adulting. 2027: The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa This is more of a post apocalyptic dystopian type read where things just start going missing in an island. And if you remember what happened, the memory police come for you. I feel this would really show me why we place meaning on the things that we do. 2028: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Another classic that I definitely want to get into. With the uncanny gothic elements, it would be such an interesting read es...

Beginning my schooldays with poetry in my first hour would not have been exactly exciting for me. However, over winter break I've been listening to a lot of music, especially one of my all time favorite lyricists, Taylor Swift. And I've had more than one time I felt she was a lyrical genius (not as good as Aesop Rock, but still good enough). Take these lines from a couple difference songs for example: "I brought a knife to a gun fight" or  "the rust that grew between telephones" or  " But if the story's over why am I still writing pages?"  These simple, yet metaphorical lines made me understand that songs with straight up lyrics aren't really my cup of tea. I want a singer that talks in code, someone you have to completely break down the lyrics of to fully understand. Someone who can consistently use wordplay and use it as something more than just a meaningless flashy one line (aka Lil Wayne (although I love Lil Wayne)). Although I can'...

 A while back, maybe a couple years ago, I heard of this saying.  It was something along the lines of "growth is always outside your comfort zone" and "if it scares you, it might be a good thing to try". I'm not one to latch onto quotes and live by them, but this was really something that stuck with me. It was essentially saying that if you feel fear or nerves before doing something new or putting yourself in a different situation, it just means you have an opportunity to grow. I remember last year, when asked to sing the American national anthem in front of hundreds of people in two weeks time, I was like, "yeah no problem". But being put in that position at that specific time was a whole other thing. I was full of nerves and questioned why would I even do this to myself. I could've just said no and watched, instead of being the one people watched. While this feeling was initially very strong, immediately following the anthem I was filled with not...

 As I reflect on this semester in 12 AP English, it’s clear how much my relationship with reading and writing has evolved. Entering the course, I thought I understood my strengths and weaknesses, but the challenges of this class revealed layers of my identity as both a reader and writer that I hadn’t fully explored. One of the most significant realizations has been the importance of not being so abstract in my essays. It's important to grab onto evidence and have tangible reasoning, instead of these thoughts, though they can have depth. Critical thinking is also something I've learned to develop which also corroborates into me shaping my voice. Analyzing complex texts has challenged my perspective, forcing me to question assumptions and delve deeper into themes and arguments. Reading works like  Saving Sourdi  opened my mind to ideas I really hadn’t considered before, like the decay/evolution of cultural norms through generations. These moments validated the value of step...

Questions softly freeze upon ourselves. Who am I? What do I believe in? Who are my people? Which social role do I follow? How am I supposed to act in public? Which section of society do I follow? To shield yourself from this cold, whose ice numbs you with the undetermined answers of society, you put on your jacket. The jacket is your culture. Culture protects you by answering all your questions, it gives you a purpose. Culture is most often defined as “ the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group” (Oxford). However, this doesn’t encompass even half of the true meaning. Its meaning varies from person to person. For example, one might describe culture as the art, music, passed down through generations; focusing on the tangible expressions in order to differentiate. While the other may say that culture is the collective set of values, norms, and behaviors that shape the way a person thinks; focusing not only on the visible...

We've all been there, right? The moment when you look back at something you did or said, and you're left wondering, "what the heck was I thinking?" Maybe you snapped at someone when you didn't mean to, or treated someone a way you wouldn't want to be treated, and now you're just feeling... so guilty. It's that feeling that, deep down, you're a good person but somehow made a bad choice, and I've personally felt this way more times than I'd like to admit. Reading Othello  gave me a reminder that the line between good and bad is more of a gradient. Othello was introduced in the play as this dark-skinned Moor living in Venice. This decorated military officer that seemed to have everything going on for him. He's shown as a man who beat all odds and now sits at the top through handwork and determination, a picturesque societal representation of success. So how could he have turned into such a bad person so quickly? Well, Othello's downfal...